The film, television and stage actor will play Deputy Chief William Dodds, a charismatic but tough-as-nails boss who oversees all of the special victims units in the Big Apple. He demands respect and hard work from the commanders who answer to him — and is used to getting it.

“I’ve wanted to write for and work with Peter Gallagher since … forever,” said “SVU” showrunner Warren Leight. “He’s an actor’s actor – deft with text and subtext; emotion and intellect. Like everyone else in our cast, he’s also a great singer. We’re all thrilled that this long into the show’s run, actors of his quality want to do an arc on ‘SVU.’”

Gallagher, who is also known for roles in “American Beauty,” “The O.C.,” and Broadway productions of “Hair” and “Guys and Dolls,” is repped by Gersh and John Carrabino.

Stabler (Chris Meloni) left on his own accord. Why anyone in their right mind would turn down $400,000 an episode is beyond me. Not giving Richard Belzer more to do and then getting rid of him was a bad decision. Peter Gallagher is a nice actor. Keeping Donal Logue would have been better. The time to make Kelli Giddish and Danny Pino a more important part of the show is NOW, especially since it seems that Mariska Hargitay is starting to wear down more quickly. Getting everybody re-signed so that there can be a season 17 is imperative. Not going out and getting Connie Nielsen to help take some of the load off Mariska was as bad a decision as not renewing the show in March so that they wouldn’t have lost Donal Logue to GOTHAM!